


break the awkward, come undone

by UndeadRejection



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: ...ish, Canon Compliant, Communication, Destiny Islands (Kingdom Hearts), Friends to Lovers, Friendship, Getting Together, Multi, Polyamory, Post-Kingdom Hearts II, Pre-Kingdom Hearts Dream Drop Distance, emotional competence, these three will be happy if i have to break my own hands to do it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-22
Updated: 2020-04-22
Packaged: 2021-03-01 18:00:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,393
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23781232
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/UndeadRejection/pseuds/UndeadRejection
Summary: About five minutes after falling through the door to light, Riku passes out from exhaustion and collapses into Kairi's arms. They'd been going for the hug anyway, so it's not a total loss, but he's pretty heavy. Sora helps her carry him out of the water and into the seaside shack, where they lay him down to rest - Kairi watches Sora brush his bangs back from his eyes, two parts fond, one part jealous.Falling out of the sky and swimming back to shore was but one small part of a very long, very dangerous journey for Sora, Riku and Kairi. Luckily, there's plenty of time to settle back into island life before their next adventure. (And plenty of love to go around.)
Relationships: Kairi/Riku (Kingdom Hearts), Kairi/Riku/Sora (Kingdom Hearts), Kairi/Sora (Kingdom Hearts), Riku/Sora (Kingdom Hearts)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 46





	break the awkward, come undone

**Author's Note:**

> im back out of hibernation with a new fic! yes its sorikai because i am a slut for them. ive been thinking a lot lately about how kh2 left them in such a good place and then ddd personally broke into my house and shot me in the neck. anyway
> 
> hope this quarantine is treating everyone kindly. the title is from in the middle by dodie because thats my go to polyamory song.
> 
> new works HOPEFULLY coming soon. i know i say that everytime but i DO write im just godawful at time management

About five minutes after falling through the door to light, Riku passes out from exhaustion and collapses into Kairi's arms. They'd been going for the hug anyway, so it's not a total loss, but he's pretty heavy. Sora helps her carry him out of the water and into the seaside shack, where they lay him down to rest - Kairi watches Sora brush his bangs back from his eyes, two parts fond, one part jealous.

"You really missed him, huh," she says. It's not a question. She busies herself with trying to wipe the sand off of her wet calves, to no avail.

"Huh?" Sora looks up, and starts rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly, something he's done since they were kids. "Well, yeah. I missed both of you guys. A lot."

Kairi's heart swells - because of the familiar sight, because of his words, because they're _back_. She's not sure. Maybe a combination of all three. There's a stripe of warm light on the side of her face where it filters between the boards that make up the shack, and her eyes are drawn up to Sora's cheek, where two more of those strips are stark against the light shadow inside the shack. His hair is unbearably shiny, still wet from the ocean, and more caramel coloured than she remembers. She hasn't felt this way in a long time.

"I missed you too. Both of you, I mean. I..." She trails off, staring out the open door onto the beach as if the words she needs will simply appear. That beach, where they planned to sail into the sunset together. Where she was kidnapped. Where her best friends, the people she loves more than anything, finally returned to her.

That's right; they came back. They always do. And they have all the time in the world now, the three of them, to discuss things and make up for lost time. There's no need to rush. She can wait until Riku's awake to take part, at the very least.

"I don't want to have to be separated from you guys ever again," she settles on. Was that too serious? "So no more leaving me behind, okay? Don't think I won't chase you down if I have to!" She shoots for mock stern instead; familiar and easy to slip into.

Sora smiles broadly. "Good!" he chirps, eyes bright, completely throwing her off her rhythm. "I hate being apart from you, and I know Riku does too. There's so much I've wanted to show you or tell you about! You know I flew? And I met _real_ pirates!"

There's a lot that she wants to tell him, too, things she's been waiting to tell him for a long time. It's fine. She can wait her turn.

Kairi takes one of Riku's open hands in her own and leans in toward Sora, matching his grin with a teasing one of her own. "What do you mean, you _flew_?" she demands, even though she's pretty sure that _that_ , at least, is one of the few adventures where she'd been with him.

* * *

Sora frowns at his homework, absentmindedly chewing on his thumbnail as he tries not to get too distracted by Riku's arms. He's wearing one of his dumb sleeveless jackets over his uniform instead of the blazer, so his biceps sure are... Out there.

Normally Kairi would join them in studying out on the play island and Sora could goof off with her, but she has tennis practice with Selphie - Sora doesn't remember them being that close before; obviously they were always friends, but now they have, like, sleepovers and stuff. He guesses that your friends disappearing for a year will do that. And he's glad she wasn't completely alone for all that time, but it kind of sucks having to share her now that they're back.

Feeling Riku's gaze on him, Sora looks up to meet his eyes. "What?" he asks, not even removing his hand from the vicinity of his mouth.

"Nothing," Riku says, but his lips are twitching.

"Huh? You got somethin' to say?!" Sora puts up his fists, ready to throw down. He is, of course, still lying on his belly on the deck of the lookout, so the effect leaves much to be desired.

"Nothing!" Riku insists, but he's laughing. It's good to see him laughing. "Although... Did no one ever teach you to read silently? You've just been mumbling this whole time."

"Ugh." Sora rolls onto his back, bare arms pressed against the warm, sun-bleached wood of the deck as he stares at the sky, clear as ever. "I wish Kairi were here. She wouldn't let you make fun of me."

Riku laughs again, but there's a sharp edge to it this time. "No, she would. You just wouldn't care, 'cause I'd be making fun of her, too."

"Yeah, and then we'd bully you right back, you big jerk!" Sora shoots back, thrashing his limbs against the sun-bleached wood of the deck purely to _move_.

The conversation dies down, and Sora tries to focus on his math - really, he does! But he doesn't have the same single-minded concentration as Riku, and the longer he stares at the page the more the numbers seem to drift away. It's not his fault that math is mind-numbingly boring, and it's such a nice day, and he wants to go swimming.

Riku would bitch at him, though. He grits his teeth and turns the page, hoping to see something he recognises - catching up on all the school he's missed _sucks,_ he doesn't understand how Riku can just zoom through the material without ever breaking a sweat. Even Kairi, usually his equal in academics, is far ahead of him now since she only missed a couple months.

"Ughhhh," he groans, pressing his palms into his eye sockets.

"Dude, just do a couple problems and we can take a break," Riku says, sounding bored. He's probably finished already, too, he's so smart, and nice enough to not even rub it in Sora's face. And don't even get Sora started on his shoulders--

_Anyway,_ Riku's offer of a break is enough to motivate him, and Sora finds himself halfway through his assigned set before he needs to call it quits.

"Let's go swimming!" he announces, throwing down his pencil.

Riku looks up from his novel which, Sora's pretty sure, isn't required reading or anything. It's just something to do while he keeps Sora company (because everyone on this island and the next knows that he won't do his homework if left unattended). Nerd.

"Are you kidding? We didn't bring towels. We're just gonna come back and drip seawater all over our homework."

"You're _finished!_ " Sora retorts, unfazed. Riku actually looks away for a second, as if he thought Sora wouldn't have noticed.

"Yeah, but you're not," he points out.

"So? We'll airdry. C'mon, let's _go!_ "

It's pretty easy to talk Riku into the water, all things considered. He stands knee deep in the surf with his uniform pants rolled up, but they're still getting wet where they're bunched up over his knees. And he gets splashed when Sora dives in under the incoming waves anyway, so Sora's not sure why he even bothers trying.

He's still standing there when Sora pokes his head back up and shakes his hair out, treading water to stay afloat. He waves Riku over, and he only shakes his head twice before visibly sighing - like, a full body sigh, with drooping shoulders and everything. Dramatic much? - and diving in to join him.

It's weird, Sora thinks, that this is where they'd ended up after falling through the door to light a month ago. It certainly doesn't feel the same without Kairi on the shore, calling them home.

Riku pops out of the water next to him, startling Sora out of his thoughts. He's so close that the two of them keep kicking each other by accident, but neither of them moves away.

"Alright genius, I'm here. Now what?"

"D'you remember when we used to fight over Kairi?" Sora blurts, and then cringes internally.

Riku's quiet for a second, and then, "I'm not sure I'd call it that, but yeah. We don't do that anymore, though."

"Yeah." Maybe he should just leave it at that. "It's like, I know now that us being all competitive wouldn't have actually changed anything with her, but I still always felt like you were somehow gonna 'win' her, and then it would just be the two of you, and then me..."

He's not explaining himself well at all.

"I felt the same way," Riku admits.

_"Huh?"_

"Yeah." Riku stares back towards the beach, and Sora thinks he has an idea of what he sees. "I always thought you guys were closer than me. And eventually you'd realise you were, like, meant for each other and leave me behind."

"That doesn't... Why would _you_..." Sora doesn't understand. Riku had always been stronger, faster, smarter - he and Kairi should have been guaranteed, in his ten year old mind. He tells him that.

Riku shrugs, as much as one can with water up to their neck. "It's not like Kairi's ever actually cared about stuff like that. And you guys were in the same grade. I just felt like I was losing."

Sora thinks on that for a second. "Well, it's a good thing we're not competing anymore, then," he decides. "You've always been a sore loser."

"I think you're talking about _you_ ," Riku scoffs, but Sora just laughs and sticks his tongue out.

"I'll race you back!" he yells, already kicking himself forward. He hears Riku call "cheater!" after him, hot on his heels.

Riku wins, but that's fine. Sora's long since stopped keeping count anyway.

They're lying down by the water, tired and covered in sand after having wrestled to the finish line, when Riku says, "I like it better like it is now anyway. All three of us."

"Yeah," Sora agrees, cheeks tired from beaming. "Me too."

* * *

Riku and Kairi fall into step seamlessly as they exit the school gates.

"You got Sora's homework?" He asks, but he already knows the answer.

"Of course! No way he's allowed to flunk out on us just 'cause he's sick. No man left behind!"

They fall quiet far too quickly. It's been a long time since the two of them have been left alone together. Since their return, all three of them have been nigh inseparable - with the exception of Kairi running off to tennis practise every few days or so. It's unclear to Riku whether she's part of the official team, or if she and Selphie are just doing it for fun. Either way, Sora is pretty much always between them as a buffer. Which is good, because he needs to talk to her about something, but he really, _really_ doesn't want to.

Procrastination has always been more their thing than his, though. Better to get it out of the way now, while the opportunity rests in front of him.

"Hey, my legs are tired. Piggyback me?" Nevermind.

"Oh, your legs are _tired_?" he teases. "I thought you were all tough and strong from tennis."

"Yeah, and my legs are tired," Kairi says. "From tennis."

He's pretty sure she didn't actually have tennis today, but he can't argue with that.

"Alright," he says, pointing a thumb at his own shoulders. "Climb aboard."

She's heavier than he remembers, but it's okay. He's gotten a lot stronger, too. It's a lot of dead weight when she leans over to rest her chin on his head, but that's fine too. It's cute, probably. Sora would say so for sure, if he were here. Sora's never had a problem with that - just like, saying stuff. He's so honest and open. Good at talking about things. Riku's nothing like that - everything just piles up inside of him until he feels like he could explode, and when he finally lets it out, it starts all over again. Ad infinitum.

He should just talk to her, right? There probably won't be a better time, and they've already cycled through three different rounds of idle chatter. They're about halfway to Sora's house when he decides to bite the bullet.

"Hey, Kairi?" he asks, only continuing when he gets a 'hmm?' in response. "There's something I've been meaning to talk to you about." She sits up, at that. As much as one can when they're being carried.

"Yeah? I'm listening," she says softly. Everything about her is so soft. She's strong too, of course, but her skin, her heart, her voice - all soft. All precious.

"I wanted to thank you. For... Always being there for us. Me and Sora. You recognised me, even when I didn't really know myself." Her arms tighten around his neck, and he takes it as a cue to keep going. "And you never got mad about the dumb shit I pulled before that - I know you must remember it. I really hated myself for a while. But you never did."

She hums into the top of his head, warm on his back and wrapped around him like a hug. He loves her so, so much.

"You're-" His mouth is suddenly dry, a lump in his throat. "You're one of the kindest, warmest people I know. So thank you."

"Riku, you don't have to thank me for... For things like that. I just care about you - and Sora too, but... I'm not saying this right. Can you put me down?"

He does, without question, and turns to face her.

She's chewing on her lip - _cute_ \- but the determined set of her jaw conveys her seriousness, and her palms weigh heavy when she sets them on his shoulders. He straightens up, suddenly feeling that he needs to prepare himself for... Something. He's almost a whole head taller than her now, he notices, and he can't help but wonder who let _that_ happen.

"I love you," she says, and his heart stops. "You are so, so important to me, Riku. I know sometimes you can't see it, but you are such an amazing person. I mean it, Riku - you _deserve_ to have people who care about you, friends who will be in your corner. And that's not as a favour to you, or because we're nice. It's because you... You're a _good person._ I don't know how to make you see that," Kairi adds, and Riku doesn't know if he wants to curl up in her arms and cry or tell her she's wrong, that nothing he could ever do would be enough for him to deserve them, the two most beautiful, generous people he's ever known.

"I'm never going to expect you to thank me for showing you the basic decency that you've earned. You're not that person anymore. I don't think you ever really were."

"I..." Riku can do little more than stare, completely overwhelmed. "I don't know if I agree with you about that," he says numbly. Because he'd thought about it, hadn't he? He had sat down on the beach in the Realm of Darkness and thought, _this is what I deserve._ And then he'd glanced over beside him, and known even more strongly that Sora didn't. That Sora was paying for his mistakes all over again.

Kairi looks, for a second, dismayed, before she steadies herself and looks him right in the eye. Brooking no argument. "I will never give up on you. None of us will. So don't you dare give up on yourself," she says, stern as he's ever seen her.

A few tears escape at that, but he's trying not to cause a scene here. "Thank you," he says, and it definitely doesn't come out as a sob.

She gives him her brightest, most indulgent smile. "Don't thank me," she soothes. "Just carry on doing what you always do. Sora and I would be totally hopeless without you, you know." She says it conspiratorially, like an inside joke he hasn't learned yet.

"That's not true," he can't help but argue, even as he's laughing and wiping the tears off his face, "you'd get through it." At the beginning of their journey he would have agreed with her; _he_ was the capable one, _he_ had to rescue them, _he_ had to play the hero. How exhausting. He wonders when, exactly, he started thinking differently.

Riku stares out over the vast ocean, beyond the play island, where the sea meets the sky. "Maybe," Kairi says beside him. "But we'd hate every second of it."

When Sora opens the door in his pyjamas, he stares forward for a second, unseeing, and sways on his feet.

"Shit, are you okay?" Riku asks, reaching out to steady him.

"You don't look so good," Kairi adds, her tone coloured with concern.

Sora slowly looks up, meeting Riku's eyes. And then he looks up further to see Kairi's. "No fair," he complains distantly. "You never give me piggyback rides."

Riku presses the back of his hand to Sora's forehead, watching as he scrunches up his eyebrows at the feeling. "Cold..."

"Break this fever, and you can have all the piggyback rides you want," Riku promises.

(One would think that Sora is able to flip some sort of switch on his immune system; two days later he is once again alive and kicking. He makes Riku carry him around for a week.)

* * *

They settle back into island life - they heal. Kairi's just starting to think that maybe that was it - they had their adventures and now it's done - when she finds the letter in a bottle on the beach.

Despite how old they've grown, they still find themselves on the play island more often than not. Too many memories were made there, too much history to give up. While the other kids were moving on and getting serious about their studies, Sora and Riku were fighting for the fate of the worlds and Kairi was... Well. She was fighting for them.

It's nice to have a place that they can come back to, and just feel like kids.

Kairi picks up the bottle and stares at it - for a split second, there is a traitorous part of her that wants to throw it back into the ocean. Let someone else take care of it this time. She knows that's unfair. This kind of task - whatever it may be - is one for heroes of light. Those tend to come in limited supply.

So she strengthens her resolve, pats her face a couple times with her hands, and heads off to the paopu tree where the three of them tend to meet. Sora and Riku will be excited at the prospect of more adventure, she's sure, and soon enough she'll get caught up in their rhythm as well. There's nothing to worry about.

The night before her boys leave, they have a small bonfire on the beach - Sora gathers some firewood, Riku whittles some sticks so they can roast marshmallows like they did when they were kids, and Kairi sets the fire. (They hadn't asked her to do anything, but Sora and Riku wouldn't stop arguing about whether dark firaga would be cool - Sora's opinion - or potentially toxic - Riku's - so she'd taken care of it.)

They act like they're celebrating, but Kairi can't help but feel that they're compensating for something. Something that feels like it's missing. She shoves it aside and joins Riku in laughing at Sora, who has managed to get sticky marshmallow so far on his cheek that he can't reach it.

She licks the pad of her thumb and reaches over to help him, watching light and shadows dance across his face, when-

"This _sucks!_ " Sora says it loud and clear.

"Whoa, we're just kidding around Sora, we didn't really mean-" Riku has his palms up, assuaging, but Sora cuts him off anyway.

"Not that! I mean- we're leaving Kairi behind, again! Are we just not going to talk about that? It's stupid! I hate it!"

Oh.

Kairi opens her mouth to tell him that it's okay, really, she doesn't mind, but her throat closes up at the lie.

Riku is staring at her. "Kairi, are you okay?" He says the words intently, with real weight. She loves that about him.

"Huh?" She chuckles, raising a hand to wipe at her face. "I'm..." Oh. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't be crying, this is- so unfair of me, you guys should be-" A sob wrenches itself out of her chest, and the tears won't stop coming. Sometimes she wishes her heart wasn't so honest.

Before she knows it they're each crushed against one of her sides, Riku's large hand rubbing down her back and Sora taking one of her hands in his own.

"Hey, no, it's okay..." Riku is saying, but he doesn't seem to know how to continue.

"You're allowed to be upset!" Sora bursts out, squeezing her hand tightly. "I'm upset! I wish you could come! We're gonna miss you the whole time, just waiting to come back home."

She sniffles and nods. That helps, a little. Knowing that they want her to be there as much as she wants to _be there_ , that they still, after everything, consider this their home to come back to. She doesn't ever want that to change.

"Sorry," she sobs out again, "'s my fault- if I was stronger, I could come with-"

"That's not true, you're plenty strong," Riku says gently. "I bet you anything that once we ace this test, it'll be your turn next. We'll be cheering you on, and then we'll all go see the stars together."

"Yeah! Like a victory lap," Sora tacks on. "I'll take care of Riku, so you just hold down the fort, and we'll be back before you know it, you'll see. And when we're all keyblade masters, we'll... Get ice cream, okay? Icing on the cake."

She can't help but laugh. They're so earnest... Of course she can trust them. They've always come back to her before, even if it took a little time. Surely this will be the simplest of their journeys so far.

Riku chuckles as well. "Well I'll be taking care of Sora, so you really have nothing to worry about. If he gets distracted, I'll hurry him up. We won't keep you waiting long, promise."

Kairi nods. "Right!" There's a weight off her back now, less lead in the pit of her stomach. Maybe she just needed to get the tears out. She wipes her hands over her face, and she knows her eyes are still red and swollen, her voice more than likely a little croaky, but she feels like a whole new girl. Like she can do anything, with the knowledge that these two are her best friends in all the worlds, and nothing can change that. Hopefully... not even _this_.

She turns to Riku, places a hand along his jaw, watches a light blush rise into his cheeks - faint, against the orange of the campfire, but bright against the dark canvas of stars.

"I'm gonna do something really stupid," she whispers, and leans into his mouth.

Kissing Riku is nothing like she thought it would be - for one thing, she'd always imagined him kissing her first, but he's slower to move than she ever would have thought. So it follows that she wouldn't have expected him to startle and freeze up as soon as their lips met. When she pulls back and looks up at him, his eyes are wide open and staring.

"Wh- huh..?" he stutters out, and starts blushing in earnest.

"Hah!" Sora crows, triumphant, pressing a hard line against Kairi's back to lean in. "I told you it was you, Riku! I never stood a chance compared to you." He somehow manages to sound like he's won something, even as he admits that he's lost.

Kairi turns completely in her seat to look up at Sora - he's so much taller now, how could she miss that? And his shoulders are broader, his arms stronger. He's changed. Has she? Is she braver now, more daring? She has to be.

"What? Sora, I like you both. I always have. There is no competition." She says it straight, tries to make it easy for him to understand. No more mistakes or misunderstandings. This is a send-off for the boys that she loves. She owes it to them to be clear about that.

Before Sora's brow can furrow in confusion, before she herself can falter, she leans in to kiss him too.

"Oh..." he breathes, eyes flicking back between her and Riku, like he wants to say _are you sure?_ Well, she is. She has been for a long time.

"It's the same for you guys too, right?" She cocks her head when Sora and Riku's eyes meet across the space where she sits. Their faces are both flaming, but they power through it.

Sora hums and nods, ducking his head embarrassedly, and Riku mutters out an aborted "I- ...Yeah."

Kairi kicks her ankles against the bark of the log they're sitting on. "Good. We should go on a date when you get back."

"Yeah!"

"Yes- yep."

She grins, feeling... More like herself. Content. Bittersweet, maybe, but that's no unfamiliar feeling when you grow up in love with your best friends who are in love with each other, when you're too young to see how they both orbit you like the sun. "Cool. Don't keep me waiting for too long, alright?"

They both vehemently deny that they would _ever_ , how could you even _imply_ , but she knows what they're trying to say, each with a hand wrapped tightly around hers.

She shuffles over to lean on Riku's shoulder, tugging Sora along with her, heart full and warm. She's spent so long reaching out for some kind of ideal that she didn't even really think existed, hoping against hope that if she put things off long enough that they would work out... And maybe she's lucky this time. Maybe they're all lucky, or maybe they've just paid their dues and put in the time and the effort to make things work.

Well, she can be happy with that. After all that time, and all that work, what's a little more?

Their journey starts at dawn.

**Author's Note:**

> this could be seen as taking place in the same universe as [my other kh fic,](https://archiveofourown.org/works/18904759) maybe check it out if you like this one? its technically set postkh3 but is totally disconnected from everything because you could not PAY me to touch that bag of worms.
> 
> [twitter](https://twitter.com/thelaudown9) // [tumblr](https://heithposting.tumblr.com)


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